Military Transport Plane Makes Emergency Landing After Clipping Fighter Jet Midair

Listening to ATC it sounds like the F-35 hit the right wing and disabled the #3 & #4 engines. Leaking fuel and with a potential fire, the -130 crew did a great job with a wounded beast.

I saw one news report that said both crew members of the F-35B ejected safely. They don’t seem to be aware that it’s a single-seater.

Reports seem to indicate that everyone is OK. That is a blessing, it could easily have been a disaster.

There goes a Zillion tax payer dollars and someone's career into the toilet. Navy will need a scapegoat.

I have ridden in one a couple of times, but don't know jack about them. I don't know if you can open the side doors in flight, but someone below said you drop the cargo ramp and run out the back. Sounds good to me. So my question is how did it land. Was it on an automatic landing system of some sort? Looks like it came in with minimal damage, but looks can sometimes be deceiving.

Would be interesting to know/learn the career fate of the one who induced the accident (if at fault).

I saw video that shows all the blades on props for engines 3 & 4 completely gone from the hub and engine 1 missing 2 blades as well. Good job on the Sky Pig's crew for getting it down in "one" piece with no deaths. From the looks of things they landed easily as there isn't a long deep trench behind it.

I would bet that Lockheed can fix it good as new depending on damage to the belly and gear doors.

My biggest gripe is the talking head stating 2 jets. While a Sky Pig has jet engines, it isn't a jet. ;)

Some great airmanship landing the 130. I'm betting they didn't have time to dump the fuel they were hauling and they did the landing belly up with both right engines disabled. Good work guys!

Tanker aircraft was a Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352 (VMGR-352) ‘Raiders’ KC-130T aircraft out of Miramar. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMGR-352

https://news.usni.org/2020/09/29/marine-f-35b-crashes-after-collision-with-kc-130-over-california-all-aircrew-recovered-safely

I agree with H Jones, how do you eject from a C-130? Just wish that when reporters cover a story that they would have a basic understanding of the subject they were reporting on!!!!!

It appears from the damage that the F-35 clipped the 130, not the other way around, as indicated in the tagline. The apparent damage seems consistent with a the case of the receiver pilot's misestimating the rate of closure on the 130, momentarily lost SA, and flew into the tanker from behind. All remains unsubstantiated until we get a some kind of report, but that's how it looks from here, at this point.

Glad all are OK. Wow! F-35B and KC-130J written off. Big whoops!

To "eject" from a KC-130, you lower the tail cargo ramp, check that your chute is ready, run off the ramp, and pull the ripcord.

Wait. The tanker crew all safely ejected and landed nearby with parachutes? How did the tanker land so well with no one onboard?

I heard they shaved a Gorilla

I am a paratrooper. Side doors and tailgate open in flight. Except for SOF all or jumps are ripcord. AF emergency chutes are activated manually with a ripcord (that thingy in front that looks like a handle). While I wouldn’t expect a reporter to know this I would exit them to do a simple check. Google even has pictures.

How does one "eject" from a 130? No 130 I ever flew/saw had ejection seats. Additionally if the truck crew bailed out, they could do that, who landed it?

Talk about weird; I'd recently commented on VMGR-352 "QB" TRANSPACS back in the '70s, out of MCAS El Toro, when I crewed on the R's. On one of those return gaggles to El Toro in the "command" 130, halfway btwn Hickam (we parked there, the A-4's at MCAS Kaneohe Bay), we almost/almost had a midair. Orbiting and waiting for the fast-movers to arrive, another 130 got out of place. Talk about close - my entire view from the starboard waist window was obscured by the other 130; with the UNITED STATES MARINES livery (port side) gliding by at an upward 30° angle - our wings overlapping. Needless to say, one of the PIC's went buh-bye.